Chinese LBM supplier to expand

Beijing New Building Material (Group) Co. (BNBM), China's largest new home and building materials manufacturer, is planning to open 10 new production facilities overseas by the year 2015, according to an article in China Daily.

The Chengdu-based company exports its new building-material houses to 25 countries and regions, including the United States, Russia and New Zealand, through a subsidiary called BNBD Homes. In mid-March, BNBM signed a housing-export contract worth more than 600 million yuan (US$92.5 million) with the government of Zambia. Under the contract, BNBM Homes will design and construct 4,000 units of public housing in Zambia.

BNBM Homes generated some 100 million yuan (US$15.4 million) in sales last year, about half of which was from overseas business. The company hopes to further expand its overseas markets to 60% of its revenues.

BNBD recently won the first round of bidding for a 30-million-yuan (US$4.6 million) project for the post-earthquake reconstruction in Japan. The company will build 250 earthquake-resistant houses in the first phase of the project, executives said, using expertise it developed building earthquake-proof houses in China after the 2008 Sichuan and the 2010 Qinghai earthquakes.